Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest technology news and information.

Mozilla slates first Firefox 3.5 patch

Plans to patch bugs this month that went unfixed in final version

By Gregg Keizer

July 2, 2009 07:26 AM ET

Browser wars

More in Internet Center

Computerworld - Mozilla will patch the just-released Firefox 3.5 in the next few weeks to stamp out several bugs that went unfixed in the final version of the browser, the company said Tuesday.

Firefox 3.5.1, which Mozilla intends to deliver in mid-to-late July, will include fixes for at least three bugs and "topcrashes," the term the company uses to describe the frequently-reported crashes. Like many applications, Firefox asks users to report crashes by displaying a prompt after the browser goes down.

"[The] goal of this release should be a quick turnaround that fixes topcrashes and bugs we almost held ship for," Mozilla said in notes published after a weekly status meeting.

One of the topcrashes scheduled for a fix involves TraceMonkey, the new, faster JavaScript engine that debuted in Firefox 3.5. At least one of the bugs was fixed a week before Mozilla released the final code on Tuesday.

The quick patch is not unusual for Mozilla. The company did the same thing last year, when it issued Firefox 3.0.1 four weeks after shipping Firefox 3.0, 2008's update.

Users downloaded about 6.5 million copies of Firefox 3.5 in the browser's first 36 hours, according to Mozilla's real-time counter. Although that's a far cry from the 8.3 million copies of Firefox 3.0 Mozilla delivered in the first 24 hours of its availability last summer, it's a pace that, if sustained, would exceed the 11 million copies of Safari 4 that Apple claimed were downloaded in its first three days.

Firefox 3.5 can be downloaded in Windows, Mac and Linux editions in 58 different languages from Mozilla's site; current users can update by choosing "Check for Updates" under the "Help" menu.

Comment Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

Firefox 3.5

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

Do You Know the 7 Steps to Successful Data Migration?

Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.

WHITE PAPER

Total Cost of Ownership of Server Computing Vs. PCs

Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.

WHITE PAPER

IDC White Paper: Linux in a Global Recession

Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.

What People Are Saying

24 comments | Add new

See all comments (24) | Add new

White Papers & Webcasts

Share our Strength
Download Now

Lower the Cost and Complexity of a Mobile Workforce through Automation
Download This Resource Now!

Top 10 Things to Know about Data Protection
Download Now

Managing Mobility: Improve Data Security, Compliance and Manageability
Download This Resource Now!

Top 10 Actions a CIO Can Take to Prepare for a Hurricane
Download Now

Managing Secure File Transfer to Save Time, Money and IT Resources
Learn how companies are using innovative technology to overcome these challenges and improve user productivity by offloading e-mail attachments and replacing FTP with...

Ponemon Study: The Business Risk of a Lost Laptop
Download Now

Security Convergence Equals Network Security Cost Savings
Listen to IBM Internet Security Systems' take on network security convergence.

Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops
Download Now

Disaster Recovery 2008: Reduced Costs and Improved Performance
How long can your Enterprise afford to be without your data? With an accelerated disaster recovery program, you never have to answer this...

All White Papers | All Webcasts